Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Hoosier Ag Today during her recent visit to Indiana that the reported $10-$15 billion plan to aid farmers impacted by the China trade standoff would have to be worked out once the government reopened due to staffing. Well, the staff is back now.
“We are working on it, Eric and as you know, things have changed over the past several weeks,” explains U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Vaden. “The President negotiated a trade agreement with China. He also negotiated trade agreements with multiple Southeast Asian countries, which are bringing millions of more tons of demand.”
Vaden says they’ll need to take those agreements into account when doing calculations for any aid package put forward.
“The entire goal of any program should be to provide a bridge to 2026 and to reflect current market conditions, which thankfully have improved. Soybean prices are at 15-month highs. That’s a positive, but we will need to take that new data into account as we measure the amount of aid that we can and should provide as part of our program.”
Many farmers worry that even though an agreement has been reached that China won’t fulfill its obligations, pointing back to the Phase 1 deal struck during President Trump’s first term. Vaden says he “1,000% understands” why farmers would be hesitant for China to keep their word. He points to one big difference this time around.
“Beijing stopped keeping its word when the occupant in the White House changed. Joe Biden didn’t do anything to enforce the Phase One deal, and he also didn’t negotiate a single new trade agreement with any country, no matter how small, during his entire tenure. This is the first year of President Trump’s second term. He’s got three more years to go. The agreement that he has made with the Chinese government covers all three of those years, and he’s going to be in the White House to enforce it. If there’s one thing I’m certain your listeners know is that if you make an agreement with President Trump, and then you violate that agreement, he doesn’t forget it, and he doesn’t allow you to slide by with it.”
Hear more from Vaden below.
